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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed that my dds school has been giving out certificates to children who bring in healthy packed lunches?

367 replies

spudmasher · 19/09/2007 21:26

Today she took in a ham roll, four cherry tomatoes, a few slices of cucumber, some fresh pineapple and a small apple pie.

She was not given a certificate because she had the apple pie in her lunch!

When I was making her lunch tonight she asked me not to put a little cake in because it was unhealthy and she would not get a certificate.

I thought it was unreasonable to reward a child, or deny a reward on the basis of decisions made by the parent.

I also feel that six is too young an age to bear the responsbility of deciding what they should eat. Surely the child should be carefree and just trust the parents to know what is healthy?

I also thought that a little fat and sugar occassionally, will not be harmful to a child.

I also felt that they are encouraging children to deny themselves small pleasures - could lead to eating disorders imo.

Thanks. Feel better now.

Am I over reacting?

Have sent snotty e mail to school........

OP posts:
oliveoil · 20/09/2007 11:21

where does it say MSG on here (admittedly Wiki

FioFio · 20/09/2007 11:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Lorayn · 20/09/2007 11:23

ha, my mum used to let me have syrup sandwiches.
Delicious.

Caroline1852 · 20/09/2007 11:23

The children don't pack the lunches, the parents do.

ghosty · 20/09/2007 11:28

I have mentioned this before but DS's school have a "Nude Food" policy. If a child's lunch is totally unwrapped ... for example, no plastic wrapping or packets ... they get thier name written on a ticket that they put in a box. Every monday morning at assembly 5 names are pulled out and those children get a 50c voucher to spend in the school canteen.
This is to reduce the amount of rubbish in the school and has the added bonus of encouraging less use of processed foods like packets of biscuits and crisps etc.

I have NO idea whether anyone on this thread thinks the certificate idea is good but I for one think it is.

Nothing wrong with encouraging children to think about what they are eating IMO ...

LaBoheme · 20/09/2007 11:31

This is bloody disgraceful - I have visions of little kids stressed at what they are bringing to school not "good" enough, as if they need to feel bad about an apple pie FFS. I feel so at this.

morningpaper · 20/09/2007 11:32

Hula Hoops USED to contain MSG - they don't any more. So chomp away!

Bessie123 · 20/09/2007 11:33

Oliveoil - I didn't see an ingredients list on there, but if it doesn't say msg, it will say E621 (which is msg). A lot of crisp brands use it (but not all).

oliveoil · 20/09/2007 11:35

oh good, my sanity is restored (and that of my fellow shoppers)

and they are on 2 for 1 atm...

McDreamy · 20/09/2007 11:36

Caroline - you make a very valid point as some children are being made to face up to their parents choices. That's not fair!

It has been said that schools are taking this kind of initiative because many children don't have a good diet but what about the handful of parents who will not change, who persistently send there children in with "banned" or "unhealthy" lunch boxes.

I just feel this is going to have a dreadful affect on their self esteem.

RubberDuck · 20/09/2007 11:40

Yay, I'm currently listening to a nutrition scientist on The Naked Scientist podcast, and he's saying (in reference to chocolate, but obv extrapolatable to other fatty foods) that it's not that addictive, but by DENYING it and making it a sinful food then it actually ELEVATES the cravings for it, and hence makes it seem much more addictive than it actually is.

So there you go.

I think that proves something

RubberDuck · 20/09/2007 11:41

The Naked Scientists fab fab fab show.

RubberDuck · 20/09/2007 11:43

AND routine moderate coffee consumption REDUCES your chance of diabetes...

... so there you go, send in your kids with a slab of dark chocolate and a flask of espresso

filthymindedvixen · 20/09/2007 11:53

''it is everybody's common responsibility to help ensure everybody has a healthy lifestyle''

Someone posted this earlier and I couldn't help think : ''No, it is an individual's responsibility to ensure they have a healthy lifestyle not mine. Unless you're talking baout children, in which case, it is the parent's responsibility.''

IE. I have a very varied and overall healthy diet. I am slender and active. therefore, I can occasionally allow myself to have a cake! I'm buggered if I'm going to think: ''no, I owe it to that obese
person over there to deny myself this cake.''

( Bugger that! I am willing perhaps to dangle to the cake in front of the person, to encourgae them to run and get some exercise. then i will eat my cake )

Lorayn · 20/09/2007 11:54

LOL vixen

iliketosleep · 20/09/2007 11:57

hi, no i dont necessarely think what he is doing is a bad thing in the respect that they do seem to change alot of the foods that have high salt etc but i think the schools are taking it WAY to far! They seem to have become fruit obsessed! Myself personally i HATE fruit and veg i think they are tasteless, horrible! My kids dont mind it but if they didnt like it would i be forced to ram it down my kids throats because the school say so?

Lorayn · 20/09/2007 11:58

I'm not keen on fruit either iliketosleep, but luckily I do love vegetables.

iliketosleep · 20/09/2007 12:11

i dont mind peas and carrots as long as they are swimmimg in gravy but fruit i do not like! bleurgh lol

TiramisuTartsandPiesInOrbit · 20/09/2007 12:12

Filthy.... I get your point. However, I dont like watching slim people stuff themselves with cake.... My problem, not yours, but as an adult I can chose to see you eating cake as an incentive to go to the gym so I too can deserve some cake.

An obese/fat/normal child who sees another child eat cake might think "That is not FAIR!" and bin their perfectly healthy lunch in protest as they did not have cake in theirs.

Oh, and another point. Carbon foot print. Somebody told me that Walkers crisps is now starting to add info about the carbon foot print made to make the crisps. Apparently it is 75g (or mg? might be wrong) per small portion sized pack of crisps. This being a gas, it is hard to quantify in weight, but it is supposedly the same amount as if you filled a one of those bouncy balls with little handles for sitting and jumping around on. Soon all goods will have this mark, so on top of reading how much fat, how many calories, you will see the carbon footprint of the item. So, you can say, Oh Walkers crisp is 75, but Sainsbury own brand is only 25, and chose the lower one, to make manufacturers change proceses. Actually, this is a whole new thread in itself, I supposed. I shall go post.

filthymindedvixen · 20/09/2007 12:23

I don't like to see anybody stuffing themselves, Tiramasu...
(and one could argue that life is not fair. I cannot see any child who is genuinely hungry, binning their whole dinner in protest at seeing me (or my child) eating a cake. This seems a bit warped to me. And a bit brattish! )

I enjoy a variety of foods, and a very balanced diet, and so do my kids. (I am a passionate home baker, and I use wholemeal flour for many of my recipes. )

filthymindedvixen · 20/09/2007 12:24

oh but, good idea on carbon footprint thread. that is a whole other world of potential guilt for mothers to explore

TiramisuTartsandPiesInOrbit · 20/09/2007 12:26

Vixen, I love home made cakes (do you have recipe for banana loaf? That seems a perfect loaf to add whole meal to)

Carbon Footprint Thread
Go on. You know you want to.

tortoiseSHELL · 20/09/2007 12:28

morningpaper, I so know how you feel - I felt exactly the same about ds1, who used to wake up in the morning after school day and be sick, because his tummy was so empty. We started to give him a cereal supper, just to fill him up, and that seemed to help a bit.

Healthy suggestions are great. Dd would eat anything off the 'oatcakes' list - she loves vegetable sticks, all fruit, humous, anything like that - but that is the way she is. Ds1 eats a massively restricted diet, and it is HARD WORK getting enough fruit/veg/protein into him - left to his own devices he would live on plain pasta. I would REALLY resent the school telling him his lunchbox wasn't good enough, because his lunchbox contains the ONLY THINGS I CAN PUT IN THAT HE WILL EAT. And I am not an indulgent mother who says 'oh darling ds, I must pamper him, give him whatever he wants', I have stressed over this so much, for the whole of his life basically, he is just incredibly fussy. I hope he will grow out of it. But at the moment, he is growing, his brain is forming, his bones are forming, he NEEDS nutrition, not a lesson that 'THIS FOOD IS BAD, DO NOT EAT IT' because some children might eat a few too many cakes.

Anna8888 · 20/09/2007 13:19

The school is being totally perverse by demonising a reasonable dessert. That's the stuff that leads to weirdo diets and eating disorders

AttilaTheMeerkat · 20/09/2007 13:55

Packets of crisps have been banned at my son's school. The following has been copied verbatim from their newsletter:-

"they DO NOT DECOMPOSE for a very long time (1000's years?). Thus we are saying "NO" to any crisp or similar high salt and fat content snack for the health reasons and the packets for the sustainable planet reasons. Thank you"

Morningpaper - sorry I made you bang your head on the desk. Hope your head is better now.

My first reaction to this dictat was, "Eh?" especially re the sustainable planet reasons.
My second was what are these people on exactly?. I blame their fiefdom PC attitude that pervades throughout that school; another example of the WESAYSO corporation so it must be right.

BTW if crisps were banned in my DH's workplace there would be much complaint!!.